We are facing a widespread epidemic of low testosterone throughout our country. Across the population, men today have less testosterone compared to men of the same age a generation ago. What’s behind all the downward trends? The answer is complicated. The unhealthy lifestyle that many Americans live certainly plays a contributing role: the standard American diet & the sedentary lifestyle from shifts in the ways men work and live (Today, men are less likely to hold jobs in manual labor). There are also a number of alarming environmental factors like increased rates of ingesting BPA, phthalates, glyphosate, and other toxic chemicals that disrupt hormone production. As the CEO of a company, the effects of low T can have a major impact on your performance as a leader as well as the overall success of the business. So how does one fix the low T problem?
As mentioned in Part 1 of this series, the first place to start is by evaluating your current lifestyle. Are you eating healthy? Do you get enough sleep? Are you sedentary in the office all day, or do you make time for daily exercise? If you live a healthy lifestyle already, and you’re still feeling the symptoms of low testosterone, then it’s time to get your hormone levels tested. Although hormones play such a crucial role in so many of our bodies’ functions, hormone testing isn’t generally a part of a regular annual checkup at the doctor. Once you reach 30, we recommend requesting to get blood work done to assess your hormone levels. According to recent guidelines from the American Urological Association, a testosterone level of at least 300 nanograms per deciliter (ng/dL) is normal for a man. A man with a testosterone level below 300 ng/dL should be diagnosed with low testosterone.
If you happen to be diagnosed with low T, testosterone replacement therapy is an effective treatment option used by millions of men and women throughout the US. Testosterone replacement therapy is a treatment to restore your testosterone to natural levels. And contrary to a popular misconception, hormone replacement therapy is not a new treatment! In fact, it has been around for decades. Researchers in the early 1930s first isolated the testosterone hormone, and pellet therapy was approved for medical use in 1939. When your hormone levels return to their normal levels, you’ll feel a wide range of benefits from improved cognitive clarity and function, sustained energy throughout the day, and increased lean muscle mass and bone density.
Here are the different options for treatment:
- Transdermal Gels are to be applied to the body each morning. The gel is easy to apply and it mimics the natural release of testosterone in the body. The downside of this method is having to lather your body in these gels each and every morning, and the testosterone is not absorbed as readily through the skin, so the results can be limited.
- Intramuscular Injection is another option. These injections last for the entire week. Some testosterone therapy centers require you to come in each week for the injection, and some places allow you to do it at home on your own. This option is only available for men, and the testosterone injections can result in up-and-down surges of high and low hormone levels.
- Bioidentical Testosterone Pellets are the safest and most natural form of hormone replacement available because their chemical structure is molecularly identical to the testosterone made in your own body, and they are created using familiar, plant-based ingredients. Pellet therapy is the only method of treatment that allows your hormone levels to remain constant for months at a time. The pellets are inserted near the upper hip or in the butt every 4 to 6 months or 2-3x per year. The benefits range from lowering cholesterol, improving cognitive ability, lowering risk of Alzheimer’s, increasing lean muscle mass, lowering your risk of depression, reducing your risk of cancer, increasing energy levels, increasing bone density, stronger sex drive, and a significant lowering of your risk of cardiovascular problems like stroke, heart attack, and blood clots.
